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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: land · fan · date · wound · squash · clip · can · wind

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. date — the fruit
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. land — to come down
  5. land — a country
  6. clip — for paper
  7. wind — moving air
  8. clip — a video
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. can — a tin
  13. wound — an injury
  14. clip — to cut
  15. squash — the sport
  16. can — to be able to
  17. can — a tin
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. land — ground
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. wound — an injury
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. squash — to crush

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com